


Be Careful What You Wish For

by the_crownless_queen



Series: Sapphic September 2019 [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Kara isn't an alien she's a genie instead, Sapphic September, Sapphic September 2019, but guess who ends up with her lamp?, but where the wishes tend to end badly for the owner after a while, genie!AU, lena - Freeform, who wants nothing to do with this genie/wish thing, who was owned by the Luthers, whoops this grew plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2020-10-09 04:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20494496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_crownless_queen/pseuds/the_crownless_queen
Summary: It takes Lena almost fifteen minutes of fiddling before she finally hears a click and the lock pops open.To be entirely honest, she doesn’t know what she was expecting, but the almost old-fashioned middle-eastern lamp she finds inside isn’t it.“What the…” Lena starts, carefully lifting it out of the box and setting it on the table.- After Lillian and Lex are arrested and thrown in jail, Lena ends up with the Luthors' most prized possession. She just wasn't expecting it to be a genie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Very imaginative title I know :p But I a) couldn't resist and b) couldn't think of anything else :/
> 
> Anyway this grew way longer than anticipated, and I liked the idea too much to rush it, so I'm giving it a few chapters to hopefully look like something okay. The law stuff is mostly made up from too many TV shows but it should be somewhat coherent. I hope :p
> 
> Also I'm pretty sure this is my first time writing in this fandom, so that's exciting :p
> 
> Written for Day 2 of Sapphic September: Wish.  
You can find the prompts [here](https://the-crownless-queen.tumblr.com/post/187393992430/sapphic-september-2019)

It starts like this: Lena’s at the office, pulling eighteen-hours-days a week because Lex left a mess behind him and Lena, who always got told she couldn’t be as good a Luthor as they were, isn’t about to let  _ her _ company crumble to the ground and prove them right.

It’s nine am and Lena’s already been there for four hours. Currently, she’s considering just throwing this progress report out of the window, because Lex’s spending expenses still make no sense to her after weeks spent on them.

(It’s no wonder he got arrested for everything from fraud to insider trading, really. The only surprise had been that their mother had been dragged down with him.)

It wouldn’t help, but it would make her feel better.

Lena sighs, rubs her temples and looks at the graphs again. Surely,  _ this time, _ she can figure out what the hell Lex had been up to, and how she can fix this mess without just dissolving an entire department.

She might still have to, sadly, but L-Corp’s employees shouldn’t have to bear the weight of her family’s mistakes. If she can somehow save their jobs, Lena will do it.

She’s halfway through the document when somebody knocks on the door.

Lena sighs inwardly and pastes on a smile. “Come in!”

“Ah, Miss Luthor —”

Lena’s smile turns truer as she recognizes her PA — not that Sam is  _ just _ a PA. That may have been all the use Lex had had for her, but Lena would have drowned in her work weeks ago without Sam to help her organize everything into slightly less of a mess. “I’ve told you before, Sam, you can just call me Lena.”

Sam blushes. “Right, sorry. Habit.” She clears her throat. “Anyway, I have a phone call for you? From... “ She looks uneasy. “From your mother. What do you want me to do?”

Lena feels sick. She wants nothing less than to speak to that woman, but the last thing she needs right now is to get blind-sided by whatever evil scheme Lillian has planned this time.

“Forward it to my desk,” Lena answers, not bothering to hide her distaste. “I’ll take it.”

“Are you sure?” Sam almost seems surprised by her own forwardness, because she hurries to apologize. “It’s just… I could just tell her that you’re busy. It’s true, after all,” she adds.

Lena has to smile at that. “It’s fine, Sam. If my mother decided to reach out now, she probably has something important to tell me.”

Or she just wants to gloat about everything Lena is doing wrong in her eyes, but in that case, Lena will have no qualms about hanging up on her.

In fact, now she’s hoping for just that.

“If you say so,” Sam says. “I’ll forward the call.”

It’s clear she still doesn’t approve, and Lena can only smile again. It’s nice to have at least one employee in the company who seems more concerned with what  _ Lena _ thinks over what her brother and mother did.

“Thank you.”

Sam closes the door and moments later, Lena’s phone rings.

She takes a deep breath, and picks up.

Her mother’s simpering tone almost immediately sets her teeth grating. “Lena! Finally — Do you ever pick up your phone?”

“I was busy,” Lena replies tersely. “I do have a company to run, as you know.”

“Yes, yes, your assistant said as much,” Lillian states dismissively. “But I’m sure you can find some time in your  _ busy _ schedule to talk to your family, can’t you?”

Lena heaves a long sigh and pinches her nose. “What is it that you want, mother? Since you didn’t call to say ‘hi’ or ask me how I, or god forbid, the company you and Lex have been running into the ground, have been doing.”

Lillian snorts. “Don’t be ridiculous, Lena, the company’s fine. It’s always been fine, ever since your father created it — and I’m sure it’ll keep on doing fine.”

“Right.” There is so much Lena could answer to that, but that would only play into her mother’s hand, so she stays silent.

Finally, Lillian sighs. “If you must know, I was calling to ask if my lawyer had contacted you yet. I believe he has some items for you, and it’d be in all of our best interests if you took possession of them sooner rather than later.”

Well, that can’t be good.

“I haven’t, no. As I’ve said, I’ve been busy. But I’m sure a meeting can be arranged if the matter is as urgent as you seem to think it is.” Lena drawls sarcastically.

“See that you do.” A pause. “Do you need me to give you his contact information?”

Lena snorts. “I’m sure I can manage to find your lawyer, mother. Goodbye.”

She hangs up before Lillian can dump yet another unwanted piece of information, and then she calls Sam back in.

She probably had been waiting for it, because the door swings open almost before Lena stops the call.

“How did it go?”

Lena sighs. “Fine — as well as expected. I need you to find her lawyer, and set up a meeting. The earlier, the better.”

“Miss — I mean, Lena?”

Lena shrugs, leaning back in her chair. “Apparently he’s in possession of some items I urgently need.”

“... Do you need me to call the FBI?”

Lena hates that she actually has to consider it, but eventually, she just shakes her head. “I don’t believe that will be necessary,” she says. “I’ll be fine.”

Sam nods. “Alright, then. Will that be all?”

“Yes. Thank you, Sam.”

Sam smiles. “It’s my job.”

Lena huffs out a laugh. “Please, I’ve read your contract — carrying my family drama isn’t part of your functions.”

“Acting in the company’s best interests is, though,” Sam retorts, and Lena sighs.

“Point to you.” She sighs again as her eyes fall back to the spreadsheets and graphs she had been looking at earlier. If they had been unappealing before, they are even more so now.

She pushes away from her desk. “I need coffee — do you need coffee?” She doesn’t wait for Sam to answer. “I’m getting us coffee.”

Lena smiles as she shuts off her computer. “As a reward for your hard work,” she adds temptingly.

“You’ve been working way more than me,” Sam counters, blustering.

Lena waves a hand dismissively through the air as she grabs her bag. “Only because you have other obligations,” she replies. “That kid needs you way more than I do — besides, you’ve been going far past above and beyond already. The least I can do is buy you some coffee before I ask you to make sense of that last report on Lex’s expenses.”

Sam, who is almost as intimately familiar with how incongruous those are, winces. “You’re right. We’re definitely going to need coffee for that.”

* * *

Even with Sam working her scheduling magic, it’s three days after her mother’s phone call that Lena finally gets half an hour free to meet with her mother’s lawyer.

He’s a tall, handsome man with a charming grin, and Lena distrusts him instantly.

“Well,” she says once the greetings are done with, “what is it my mother thought I needed?”

Mr. Smith — and that  _ can’t _ be his real name — pulls up a large briefcase, extracting a paper file and a medium-sized wooden box. He pushes the file toward Lena, and keeps the box.

“Your mother,” he starts,” entrusted me with this box. She stated that it only be handed to you in person, and that you would need it to make sure the family prospers.”

Lena can’t help but let out a small derisive snort.  _ “The family? _ What are we, the mafia now?”

Smith stares at her, unimpressed. “This,” he points at the file, “contains a contract you’ll be entering with her as soon as you take possession of the box.” At Lena’s alarmed look, he quickly adds, “Not to worry, it’s a fairly standard contract, claiming you’ve taken possession of the item and do not intend to use it against Mrs. Luthor or your brother.”

Lena arches an eyebrow. “Well, now I’m intrigued.”

She pulls the file closer and opens it. Sure enough, it is as Smith said — all it really contains is a two-page contract, printed in three exemplars, and they say what Smith said they did.

It’s surprisingly straightforward, which is how Lena knows there’s something off with it — Lillian Luthor is not known for being straightforward.

She flips the file shut. “And if I refuse to sign?” Lena asks, staring Smith right in the eyes.

Smith smiles, unveiling perfect white teeth in a grin too genuine to be true. “That is your right,” he says, nodding regally. “Of course, Mrs. Luthor warned me that this might be a possibility, and she told me to tell you that she and your brother currently still hold a controlling share in your company. 

“I know,” says before Lena can interject. “It’s held in trust until their appeal is formally concluded, but she can still choose to make those shares public, in which case…” He trails off there with a nonchalant shrug.

“I see,” Lena replies tersely. “And you’re okay with this… blackmail?”

Smith shrugs again. “I’m only relaying a message.”

“Sue you are,” Lena mutters to herself. Her fingers start to crumple the paper she’s holding, and she forces her hands to relax as she opens the file back again and starts to read it more in-depth.

She’s put too much of herself into L-Corp already to let it all be destroyed because her mother wants to be petty.

In a handful of weeks, when Lillian’s and Lex’s trials will be completely over and done with, and then, Lena will gleefully get rid of that box and whatever it contains.

After all, at this point, it would take nothing short of a miracle to get them freed from their charges.

“Alright,” Lena finally says. She’s scanned the pages twice, but they are as Smith said they were. There isn’t even any small print. “This all seems in order. Pen?”

Smith hands her a silver fountain pain, and Lena signs every page with a sigh.

_ “Ouch!” _ Lena hisses, springing her hand back from the last page.

“Are you alright?” Smith asks, though he doesn’t sound very concerned.

Lena shoots him an annoyed look as she presses down on her index finger. “I’m fine. It was just a papercut.”

She hands him back his pen, and slides the papers toward him. He looks them over for a few seconds, before nodding. “Perfect. And here,” he says, pushing the box toward Lena, “this is for you.”

Lena accepts it with a dry smile. She stands up. “Well, this has been a pleasure. However, I’m afraid I have to get back to my work now — I’m afraid I have another appointment after you. Someone will show you out.”

She shakes his hand and leaves, taking the box with her.

* * *

Lena had meant to spend the rest of the day working on budget reports with Sam, but instead, she’s staring at the box that lawyer gave her.

It’s lighter than Lena had expected, considering its size, and she can hear something rattling inside of it when she shakes it.

It is, of course, locked.

“You could never make things easy for me, hm, mother?” Lena mutters to herself as she starts to inspect the lock.

It doesn’t appear to need a key, which is good considering Lena doesn’t have one. Instead, it seems to be some kind of puzzle, which is both typical and very inconvenient — while Lena loves puzzles, she hardly has the time to spare for it now.

And yet…

And yet she can’t  _ not _ open it now, not when Lillian went to all this trouble to make sure Lena would get that box. While she doubts there’ll be anything truly helpful inside it, the sooner she knows, the sooner she can start planning how to protect herself from the way it will indubitably try to blow up in her face.

It takes Lena almost fifteen minutes of fiddling before she finally hears a click and the lock pops open.

To be entirely honest, she doesn’t know what she was expecting, but the almost old-fashioned middle-eastern lamp she finds inside isn’t it.

“What the…” Lena starts, carefully lifting it out of the box and setting it on the table.

The lamp is pretty, even she has to admit that. Lena’s no kind of jewelry expert, but she thinks it might even be gold, or at the very least gold-platted. Still, it can’t be  _ that _ valuable — Lena’s got paintings hang in her flat that have to be worth at least ten times what anyone would pay for such a trinket.

Lena looks back into the box, but it is empty.

She sighs. “It would be just like Lillian to make me waste my time like this,” she mutters to herself, but she picks up the lamp again.

Tilting it to the side reveals an inscription on the bottom. It is, of course, in Arabic, which is sadly a language Lena still hasn’t quite gotten the hang of.

She examines the other side, and luckily, there is another inscription there, this time in English. It looks almost smudged though, and Lena reaches out to rub it clean before she can even realize how dumb it is to think she can rub  _ an inscription _ clean.

She certainly doesn’t expect what happens next though.

First, the lamp grows hot — not warm,  _ hot. _ The kind of hot metals get when they’re left out too long into the sunlight. Lena lets got of it with a startled yelp, pressing her palms down on her desk to cool them down.

On her desk, where she dropped it, the lamp starts to shake, gently at first, and then more violently.

It’s only when a kind of yellowish smoke starts pouring out of the lamp that it occurs to Lena that trusting that her mother  _ wouldn’t  _ hand her some poorly contained chemical weapon might have been too much to ask, and she springs up and away from her desk, running for the door.

She doesn’t quite make it before the smoke disappears, leaving behind a floating woman with a bowed head and calls her, “Mistress.”

Honestly, Lena doesn’t think she can be blamed for freaking out just a little and throwing the nearest object she can reach — an ugly new art statue she hasn’t gotten around to getting rid of yet — at the apparition.

The blonde — because of course she is blond, and wearing an unfairly tight-fitting outfit — catches it with a nonplussed look, and floats down to the ground. Her feet make a soft  _ fwump _ noise as they hit the floor, and she sets the statue, undamaged, down on Lena’s desk.

“Well,” Lena states disbelievingly, “at least now I know you’re not a hallucination.” It’s not nearly as reassuring as it should be, and Lena leans against the wall until she can reach her couch and sit down.

“What,” she starts, trying to keep her growing hysteria out of her tone, “the hell is going on?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. I promise I haven't abandoned this story. I love it too much, and I have it all mapped out ^^  
Thanks to everyone who read/left kudos/reviewed/bookmarked, it means a lot to me! And I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too! :)

What is going on is this, the woman, whose name is apparently Kara, explains:

Approximately five decades ago, while on a business trip to Africa, Lionel Luthor had stumbled onto an actual genie’s lamp.

“I think he’d meant to pick it up as a gift for his wife,” Kara says, frowning as though she can’t quite remember it. “Or perhaps for his office? I don’t know. Anyway, he bought the lamp —  _ my _ lamp, and brought it back with him here. To this place you call America.”

Lena feels faint, and she’s glad to already be sitting down, or she’s sure her legs would have failed her.

Kara has fallen silent, even though it feels pretty obvious she wants to keep talking — god, how long has she been stuck in that lamp? how long has  _ Lena’s family _ kept her in there? — but Lena’s mind is reeling.

“And… my family, they’ve used you, then? Your… powers?” She frowns. “Do you actually grant wishes? How would that even work, though — are there limits?”

Kara’s face falls and she starts picking at the hem of her clothes — a pretty dress Lena is definitely not looking at. There is something shining in her eyes that Lena can’t quite identify, but it makes her stomach roil.

“Yes,” she says. “I can grant wishes — you just need to rub the lamp,” she says, nodding to said lamp, laying on its side on Lena’s desk.

“Right,” Lena hears herself say faintly. “And my mother gave you to me because they’ve all used magic to make this company what it is.” Because of course they have. God, how does her family keep getting worse?

Kara shrugs. “I wouldn’t know, but probably.”

Lena would nod, but she’s suddenly hit by a terrible thought. “Why wouldn’t she just wish herself free from prison?”

“It’s a big wish,” Kara replies, biting her lips and sounding like she’s choosing her words very carefully. “She might not want to risk it going wrong.”

“And she can probably get free without magical help,” Lena completes the thought bitterly, before running a tired hand through her hair.

“Yes!” Kara blurts out. “I mean, probably.”

And she would have thought that the end of this matter, except that Kara still looks incredibly shifty — not that she doesn’t have the right to, because this entire situation is insane — and something doesn’t feel right.

Because Lena’s always thought her family was cursed. Or well, cursed isn’t quite the right word for it, but they’ve certainly had more bad luck than most other families Lena knows.

“Or,” Lena starts musing out loud, looking at Kara from the corner of her eyes as she ostensibly looks back to her desk and the lamp, “maybe she simply didn’t trust you to fulfill her wish correctly, without consequences for her she couldn’t afford.”

She looks back at Kara, finding her deathly pale.

Lena rolls her eyes, dearly wishing she had something in her hands to keep busy. “Don’t look so scared, it was rather easy to figure out. My mother wouldn’t have discarded your lamp so easily if there wasn’t something in it for her, and well, she’s never liked me anyway.”

Lena’s lips twist into a bitter smile. “She’s probably expecting something terrible to happen to me any day now.”

“Oh,” Kara replies, her shoulders drooping. She looks sad, suddenly, and Lena tastes bile in her throat as a helpless kind of anger swirls in her stomach.

(How dare Kara look sorry for her when she has it so much worse? How can she? Maybe Lena’s mother doesn’t like her, but at least  _ Lena _ hasn’t been locked in a lamp, bound to fulfill strangers’ wishes.

At least Lena has never had to call anyone  _ Mistress.) _

Sighing, Lena puts her hands on her knees and pushes herself up. Kara’s eyes follow her silently as she steps back to her desk, a heavy weight on her back, and Lena doesn’t think she’s ever hated her mother more.

Her fingers hover hesitantly above the metal for a few seconds, but when Lena finally takes the lamp in hand the metal is cool and smooth, just the way she remembers it being before she let Kara out.

She turns around and walks back to Kara, stopping in front of her.

“I’m not an idiot,” she says, her grip tight around the lamp. “I’m not going to use this — I’ve gotten this far without it, and I don’t particularly want to find out what consequences any wish I make might have, do I?”

Kara’s lips twist into a wry smile. “Not really,” she admits quietly. Her fingers twitch toward her lamp for a second before she forcefully stills them. “What now, then? Am I to go back into the lamp?”

Lena tilts her head to the side. “Do you want to?”

It’s an honest question. She can’t picture why Kara would, but what does Lena know? Maybe being in that lamp is better than being outside of it.

“No,” Kara blurts out, taking a half-aborted step forward. “I, please, I’d rather, erm, stay. If that’s possible.” She wrings her hands in front of herself, and Lena tastes bile again.

“Okay,” she says faintly, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Can’t you go? Be free?” 

Kara shakes head. “No, I can only be freed if I’m wished free.”

Lena purses her lips. “Yes, that would have been too easy, wouldn’t it?”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Lena replies, waving her free hand dismissively and letting out another tired sigh. “And let me guess, wishing you free would end badly for me?” 

For a moment, Lena thinks Kara won’t answer, but when she does, she looks almost apologetic. “The lamp would take you. It needs an occupant, I think.”

But Kara clearly isn’t  _ inside _ the lamp right now, and it isn’t acting to drag Lena inside in her place. 

She drums her nails against the metal, brow furrowed in thought — something about the way Kara had said “occupant” gives her an idea. “Do you need to be inside the lamp?” she asks.

Kara freezes. “I… What?”

“Do you need to be  _ inside _ the lamp?” Lena repeats. “If I don’t make a wish, do you have to return inside?”

Kara frowns, looking down at the lamp. She looks a little lost. “I… don’t know. It’s never really come up before,” she says awkwardly. “I have to go back after you make a wish, though.”

Of course it hasn’t. “Well, I’ve told you I’m not going to do that, so… Maybe you can just… stick around, I guess.”

“Stick around?”

Lena shrugs. “Unless you have a better idea? I’m sure we can try to figure out another way to free you eventually — I  _ am _ rather clever,” she boasts with a slightly shaky grin, back in more familiar waters, “and L-Corp has many resources we can exploit.”

“You’d do that?” Kara looks stunned, and Lena wishes she wouldn’t. “For me?”

“For anyone,” Lena corrects her, because it’s true — even if Kara’s soulful eyes have admittedly left her more inclined to be… personally involved.

Or perhaps she’d be this involved freeing anyone her family has apparently been enslaving for generations. Lena likes to think she would, anyway.

And that’s why she goes, “Here,” and extends out her arm, offering Kara her lamp back. “Take it.”

Kara’s hands shake as she reaches for it, but she doesn’t dare to touch it until Lena literally shoves it in her hands.

Lena almost expects another magical show to happen like before, but nothing really does. Kara shivers, but it seems to be more related to the way her shoulders suddenly unwind in relief than any magical energies.

“Thank you,” Kara says softly, her fingers curling around the lamp as she pulls it protectively to her chest. Her eyes look wet suddenly, and they shine with disbelief as she asks, “Why?”

Lena swallows past her too-tight throat. “I don’t believe anybody should own anybody else,” she says, glad she manages to keep her voice steady. “And this belongs to you, doesn’t it?”

“I… Yes, I suppose you could say that,” Kara replies, looking down at the lamp in a stupor. 

Lena nods and wipes her sweaty palms on her legs. “Well, then you should have it.” She clears her throat. “And, erm, keep it safe.”

Kara nods wordlessly.

She doesn’t have, Lena realizes belatedly, anything but the clothes she appeared in and that lamp.

“I, erm, have a bag I can give you?”

She doesn’t, not really — it’s the bag she came with today, and it carries all of her stuff, but for what Kara undoubtedly suffered at her family’s hands, she deserves it and more.

“Oh, no, I couldn’t, you’ve already done more than enough —”

“I insist,” Lena says, interrupting. She goes back to her desk to grab her bag and empties it on the table before giving it to Kara. “Here. You can carry the lamp in that for now. We can work out something better later.”

Kara accepts it gingerly, but she seems more relaxed once the lamp is out of view, the bag hanging off her shoulder.

Lena licks her lips and in a split second, she decides. “I have a guest room you can use,” she says. “You can stay there while we look for a way to free you.”

Kara’s hand tighten on the bag’s handle. “And what if we don’t?” she asks, her eyes shadowed and dark.

Lena swallows. “I… don’t know,” she admits. “But we’ll figure it out. Maybe we can get you some kind of normal life?” She frowns to herself. “We should probably do that anyway.”

She scoops up her belongings and unearths the paper bag that had once held her lunch — yesterday, maybe? — from the paper bin. Hopefully, it’ll hold everything fine.

She winces as she looks at the time — later than she usually takes her lunch break, but still way too early to leave, even in these unconventional circumstances.

She looks back at Kara, who stares back in confusion, and sighs. “How do you feel,” she asks, “about getting something to eat?”

* * *

Lena Luthor is unlike any human Kara’s ever met. Of course, her being stuck in the lamp means that most of the humans she’s met haven’t been great people, but still, Kara thinks that even if she’d only ever met kind humans, Lena would have still been different from the rest of them.

She’s very intense, and she doesn’t really seem like she’d take no for an answer — the instant she’d seen Kara be interested in the delicious smell coming from the burger joint across the street, she’d insisted they go there, and she’d glared at the server who’d tried to dissuade Kara from ordering so much food.

“Just get whatever you want,” Lena had said, flashing a sharklike grin at the boy, and as it turned out, Kara wanted to try  _ everything _ on the menu.

“This is delicious,” she exclaims joyfully over mouthfuls of food, and Lena’s lips curl into a smile as she sips at her water. Lena looks so refined — even though she’s also picking at her fries and burger with her fingers — that Kara can’t help but force herself to slow down.

“I’m glad,” Lena replies.

Kara doesn’t talk much — she’s too busy eating the first meal she’s had in… Gosh, she doesn’t even know how many years — but Lena’s happy enough to fill in the silence by telling her about her job, and her apartment, where Kara will apparently be leaving for the foreseeable future.

She can’t help a light thrum of worry at that — staying so close to the person who last owned her lamp, whose  _ family _ owned it for so long, doesn’t exactly sound safe — but she wants to believe that Lena genuinely wants to help.

She wants to believe that there still are good people in this world. She needs to.

And so far… Well, so far, Lena seems to be proving her right.


End file.
